This invention relates to apparatus for feeding a strip of thin sheet metal from a supply coil into die set tooling within a reciprocating press, for example, tooling as disclosed in applicant's U.S. Pat. No. 5,857,374 for the high speed production of aluminum can shells. Various types of sheet metal feeding equipment or apparatus are disclosed in U.S. Pat. No. 2,025,418, No. 3,177,749, No. 4,138,913, No. 4,489,872, No. 4,561,581, No. 4,953,808, No. 5,501,412, No. 5,833,105, No. 5,451,011 and No. 5,622,330. When feeding a thin sheet of metal or aluminum strip into tooling within a single action or double action press, as disclosed in above mentioned U.S. Pat. No. 5,857,374, it is very desirable for the strip to be fed from a supply coil and indexed into tooling within the press at a high rate of speed in order for the press to operate at a high production speed, for example, 400 strokes per minute.
It is also desirable for the strip to be accurately and smoothly advanced into the tooling without any vibration or whipping of the strip in order to obtain higher speed feeding and also minimize overfeeding of the metal strip. It is further desirable to provide for quickly separating the strip feeding apparatus from the press to minimize down time of the press for maintenance of the press and/or tooling or replacement of the tooling. While the above identified patents disclose different forms of apparatus for receiving a web or strip of material or sheet metal strip from a supply coil and advancing the strip in successive steps into a reciprocating press, the different apparatus do not provide all of the desirable advantages mentioned above and especially high speed, precision and dependable advancement of the strip into a reciprocating press from which higher speed production is desired.